M-20 bridge reconstruction won't include bike lanes

The reconstruction of the M-20 bridge over the Tittabawassee River will not include dedicated bike lanes.

The Michigan Department of Transportation is planning to rebuild the major entry point into Midland, with a target date for the start of construction in 2018, Midland Planning and Community Development Director Brad Kaye said.

MDOT asked the city if it wanted to pay $2.4 million to widen the bridge to allow for a dedicated bike lane.

Members of the Midland Non-Motorized Transportation Committee and Midland Planning Commission suggested the lane was not a priority. The Midland City Council agreed this week, voting to forego the expense.

The new bridge is expected to have an 8-foot inside shoulder, two 12-foot travel lanes and a 10-foot outside shoulder in each direction. Kaye said the 10-foot shoulder would be wide enough to accommodate a bicyclist if a lane was added there later, although it’s likely that only experienced riders would choose to use the route.

Kaye said there is not a proposed bicycling network along M-20 and the area has a lower population density compared to other parts of the city. He said bicyclists have the option to use Main Street and Currie Parkway as a safer way to cross the river and get to M-20.

Midland City Council member Marty Wazbinski said a lot of groups would have recommended any bike lane they could get, but the local committees reviewed it and came to a different conclusion — the lane wasn’t necessary.

Wazbinski agreed, as did Councilwoman Diane Brown Wilhelm.

“They aligned it to their master plan and said you know what, it’s not a fit,” Brown Wilhelm said of the NMT Committee.

The council voted 5-0 on a resolution to inform MDOT that the lanes are not necessary or warranted.

At its meeting the council also:

• Updated the Midland Local Development Finance Authority to meet state law for MIdland’s SmartZone. The authority will lose Scott Walker, who will help administer the SmartZone through Midland Tomorrow. Prior members John Bartos, David Dunn, David Ramaker and Jenee Velasquez will return and new members Sid Allen, Rebecca Cox and Rich Wells have been appointed. Midland Public Schools will appoint two members, the Midland County Board of Commissioners will appoint one member and Delta College will appoint one member.

• Approved hiring Great Lakes Engineering Group of Lansing to perform $27,800 in engineering work for the Currie Parkway Bridge. The Entranceways Initiative Task Force has agreed to fund rehabilitation work on the bridge, including replacement of the concrete driving surface and painting of the 104-year-old steel truss bridge, which had a structural arch added in 1986.